The Baldwin Story

Lou Baldwin acquires the company in 1989.

Louis B. Baldwin, Jr. (“Lou”) began helping out in the office in 1976 at the age of 12 and continued to do so on some basis from that time through college. Lou graduated from Forsyth Country Day School in 1982 and from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1986 with a BA degree in Economics. Lou gained business and sales experience selling books door to door for the Southwestern Book Company in Kansas and Texas during several of his summers at Carolina.

Louis B. Baldwin, Jr. (“Lou”) began helping out in the office in 1976 at the age of 12 and continued to do so on some basis from that time through college. Lou graduated from Forsyth Country Day School in 1982 and from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1986 with a BA degree in Economics. Lou gained business and sales experience selling books door to door for the Southwestern Book Company in Kansas and Texas during several of his summers at Carolina.

Following his graduation from Carolina Lou did one more summer on the “book field”, then worked in a Congressional Campaign while taking the courses to get his Real Estate Broker’s License, which he received in November, 1986. Lou joined the company that month and worked with his father for two years before acquiring the company from his father on January 1, 1989.

Lou set about to grow the company and to take it into new areas which complimented the existing specialties of the business.

Lou had read article about Wayne Huizinga and the growth of Waste Management, Inc. Huizinga had acquired smaller dumpster firms and brought them together in a larger company. The volume of the larger company created economies and scale and market share which helped generate additional growth and efficiency for the company. Lou had the vision that this would work in the scattered-site property management business in Winston-Salem and he set about making that happened.

A Leader in Downtown Redevelopment

In the years that followed Lou was able to acquire or merge into Baldwin Properties the following companies or management portfolios

John’s Realty - (1993)- Trip Smithdeal joined the company and brought in John’s Realty’s accounts

Jerry’s Realty - (1993) turned over management of their portfolio

Ferrell Realty’s Fee Management Accounts - (1996) account acquisition

Deacon Realty - (1996) Randy Honeycutt joined the company and brought in Deacon Realty’s accounts

Century 21 Richardson Properties - (1997) account acquisition

First Triad Properties - (1997) Mark Thompson joined the company and brought in First Triad Properties’ accounts

Price and Britt Property Management - (2003)- acquisition adding a High Point office staffed by a team of qualified professionals, effective January 1, 2003.

Hubbard Realty’s residential fee management portfolio (joint venture)

Key personnel joined the Baldwin Team through this merger and acquisition activity. These included Randy Honeycutt (formerly owner of Deacon Realty), Trip Smithdeal (formerly of John’s Realty), and Mark Thompson (First Triad Properties). These key team members became Vice Presidents and Senior Property Managers with Baldwin Properties. Honeycutt and Thompson remain with the company today. Roger Wall joined the company as Maintenance Coordinator through the Hubbard joint venture.

During Lou Baldwin’s tenure as company owner and President the firm has also grown in other ways.

Baldwin grew and then sold the company’s bill collection and check cashing businesses.

Baldwin started a Homeowners Association Management division known as Baldwin Homeowners Association Management and grew it to be the largest in the market with over 20 HOAs. The division then merged with the Forsyth County division of Association Management Group to form AMG-Forsyth. Baldwin divested from ANG-Forsyth in 2010 but maintains an alliance with AMG.

The John’s Realty merger greatly expanded Baldwin’s portfolio of commercial properties under management. Trip Smithdeal was the company’s lead commercial manager for many years and now Fred Acree is the lead commercial property manager.

The company has also grown in the area of commercial and investment real estate sales and leasing. The company has closed numerous significant transactions ranging from the sale of multi-family properties, industrial buildings, office properties, and land a significant role in leasing restaurant space as part of the revitalization of downtown Winston-Salem.

Meet the Baldwin Team

Baldwin Properties’ team of experienced professionals is ready to assist you with the management, leasing or sale of commercial and investment real estate.